Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School (usually known as QE or QEGS) is a selective co-educational grammar school with academy status in Faversham, Kent, southeast England. It was formed in 1967, when the Queen Elizabeth 1 Grammar School for Boys and the William Gibbs School for Girls merged and moved into new accommodation opposite.
The school is attended by approximately 984 students, who come from Faversham and the nearby towns of Whitstable and Herne Bay. The school is a Mathematics and Computing Specialist School, a title gained in 2005. In 2009, Modern Languages was also added to that list. The headteacher is David Anderson, who had extensive experience in Kent Grammar Schools prior to his appointment.
History
Foundation
Originally Faversham Grammar School, the School was founded in 1527 by John Cole, who endowed it with property of which he made Faversham Abbey the trustee. The property was confiscated by Henry VIII when he dissolved the abbey in 1538, and the school had to close. In 1576 the borough council successfully petitioned Queen Elizabeth I for return of the endowment, and the school re-opened. The school had no permanent home of its own till 1587 when, as a result of community effort, the purpose-built premises were erected on the western edge of the Shooting Meadows, where archery was then practised. Here the school's modern-day successor has its buildings and playing fields. The new premises of 1587 were timber-framed, and 60 tons of oak were needed for the frame, which (as usual with this type of building) was first 'test-assembled' off-site.
Disposition of the original building
The Elizabethan building remained in use as a school till 1879, when much larger premises (since demolished) were erected in St Ann's Road. For a few years it was used as dwellings, and its condition began to deteriorate. Fortunately, however, the town's Masonic Lodge of Harmony was seeking a permanent home of its own, and in 1887 was able to buy it and save it from gradual decay. Conversion and restoration were undertaken by Benjamin Adkins, an architect who was also a Lodge member. The first-floor schoolroom was altered as little as possible, and extra accommodation was provided by 'under-building' where the covered playground had been at ground-floor level.
The Abbey
The Grammar School was funded in 1527 by Faversham Abbey, which was founded in 1147 by King Stephen and his Queen, Matilda. The site was just to the north east of the town, where the northern playing fields of the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School are now situated. The aim of Stephen and Matilda was to found a royal mausoleum for the House of Blois. They hoped, at that time, that the House of Blois would be victorious and rule over England for generations to come. The Abbey was dissolved in 1538 and subsequently most of it demolished as part of King Henry VIII's plans to sweep the monasteries from England. Much of the building material was removed by military engineers and transported by sea to France, where it was used to strengthen the fortifications of the towns in the Pale of Calais, which at the time was England's continental bridgehead. There is a print of Faversham Abbey in 1735, showing the Inner Gateway, demolished in 1771, the Guest House, now Arden's House and the Outer Gateway, demolished in 1772. Some of the domestic buildings remained in 1671, but not long afterwards the final traces were removed and the exact site of the once famous church sank into oblivion and was lost.